The sand in the hourglass flowed without a trace. An hour later, a small half of the Qi Condensation cultivators had successively opened their eyes. These were the cultivators who had reserved more spiritual energy earlier. After they woke up, they did not disturb the others but glanced at the young back standing by the roadside, constantly scanning the surroundings. Many of them smiled faintly, then also quietly walked to the roadside and began to guard the other directions.
As the number of awakened people gradually increased, many had already started to converse via voice transmission.
"Little Martial Uncle, what do you think is the trigger for the restriction in this stage?"
Li Yan was standing by the roadside, looking at the horizon, pondering something. Suddenly, his divine sense moved. Two people were walking towards him, and one had already sent him a voice transmission.
Li Yan retracted his gaze, smiled back at the two who had come over, and then glanced at Gong Chenying in the distance. At this moment, she was sitting upright, cross-legged. Her breathtakingly proud twin peaks were even more prominent. A faint yellow light on her body added a touch of holiness. Foundation Establishment cultivators had deep spiritual energy, and it naturally took longer for them to recover.
At this time, the two had already come up behind him. One was Yu Yiyong, and the other seemed to be called Hu Ziyi, a pretty young woman with a delicate figure. She seemed to be a disciple of Four Symbols Peak and looked to be on good terms with Yu Yiyong. Her cultivation had reached the mid-stage of the tenth level of Qi Condensation. The one who had just sent the voice transmission was this woman.
Seeing this woman address him so naturally, without any hint of affectation, made Li Yan a little surprised. His title of Martial Uncle was not earned through strength like Du Sanjiang and the others; he had gotten it by chance.
"Heh heh, I don't know the answer to your question," Li Yan smiled and transmitted to the two of them. After a pause, he continued, "However, I was watching for a while. Do you two still remember the first stage?" The few of them had all chosen to use voice transmission to avoid disturbing the others who were cultivating.
Li Yan didn't answer directly but asked a question in return.
"It was after Martial Aunt Gong entered the shop that the restriction erupted," Yu Yiyong replied at this time. He looked at Li Yan with confusion, not knowing what this question had to do with this place. There were no shops here.
Hu Ziyi blinked her big eyes, looking at Li Yan, also somewhat puzzled.
"What if the team leader didn't enter the shop on the left?"
Yu Yiyong and Hu Ziyi were stunned by his words. They had never considered this question before. Li Yan's question made them pause, but a moment later, Yu Yiyong's eyes lit up.
"Heh heh, Little Martial Uncle means that no matter whether we enter that shop or not, we will trigger a restriction somewhere. Otherwise, if no one enters that shop and everyone just follows the street, wouldn't they just walk away freely?"
"That is to say, as long as we walk forward here, we might trigger the restriction, or we wait here for the restriction to trigger automatically," the pretty young woman couldn't help but look at Li Yan a few more times. When Yu Yiyong had pulled her over just now, she had been a little unwilling. After all, calling a young brat who was a dozen years younger than her "Little Martial Uncle" made her very unwilling. But Yu Yiyong had told her that this was Martial Aunt Gong's only direct junior brother here. If they talked a little more, and Li Yan said a few words at a critical moment, a little care from Gong Chenying could be a matter of life and death. And Yu Yiyong had also said that he felt this Little Martial Uncle was very mysterious. In the previous stage, he had been the first to warn everyone at several critical moments, as if he were extremely sensitive to the dangers here.
After hearing what Yu Yiyong said, Hu Ziyi also remembered Li Yan's two mysterious attacks in the final part of the previous stage. She hadn't seen how Li Yan had laid the poison either. For a poison cultivator, this was a fatal temptation. So she had come along. She hadn't expected the first question to be so understated.
Li Yan got a headache from hearing "Little Martial Uncle, Little Martial Uncle." 'Martial Uncle is Martial Uncle, what's with the "Little"? Where am I little?'
At this moment, there was a soft sound of footsteps in the distance. Several more cultivators were walking towards them. Li Yan recognized them as being from Never-Parting Peak and Lord Lao Peak.
Among the five, two were from Never-Parting Peak, one tall and one short, one stout and one thin. They looked at Li Yan with some hostility. Li Yan didn't know these two, but he remembered that they had looked for trouble with him ever since they first met. The short one, when they had just entered the Secret Realm, had asked him sarcastically on the beast's back if he dared to participate in the Wheel of Life and Death, and had been reprimanded by him.
The other three from Lord Lao Peak were two men and one woman. One was dressed as a young Daoist, with a handsome appearance, smiling without speaking. The other was like a rich young master, as round as a ball, with a charmingly naive look, smiling before he even spoke, his small eyes squeezed into a line by his smile. The other young woman was curvaceous, with a jade-like neck and rosy cheeks, about sixteen years old, her peach-blossom eyes carrying a hint of charm.
Seeing the five of them walk over, Li Yan's group of three stopped talking and looked at them. Among the five, the rich young master from Lord Lao Peak had the highest cultivation, already at the Perfected Qi Condensation realm. The other two disciples from Lord Lao Peak were one at the late-stage tenth level of Qi Condensation and one at the mid-stage. The curvaceous young woman's cultivation was slightly higher. The two from Never-Parting Peak had the same cultivation, both at the mid-stage of the tenth level of Qi Condensation. But like the disciples from Spirit Insect Peak, half of their combat power was in their spirit beasts and Gu-insects.
"This Little Martial Uncle, your attack in the sphere just now was so vicious. What kind of poison did you use? Could you enlighten us junior nephews? Let us broaden our horizons," just as the few of them walked up to Li Yan's group of three, the short disciple from Never-Parting Peak asked directly via voice transmission, with a hint of disdain in his eyes. Although he didn't speak out loud, so as not to disturb the people cultivating behind him, it was a group voice transmission, clearly intended for everyone here to hear.
Li Yan's brow furrowed slightly. Why was this person looking for trouble with him time and again? Was he entrusted by Wang Tian?
"Heh heh, Qi Busheng, Mi Yuanzhi, I was wondering what you two were doing following us. If you don't want to look for trouble, then go to the side now," before Li Yan could answer, the rich, fat young master-looking person glanced at the two from Never-Parting Peak and transmitted with displeasure.
"Oh? Mei Bucai, what business is it of yours what we two are doing? You can come, so can't we? We are just curious about this Little Martial Uncle's methods and want to see them. I, Qi Busheng, don't think my use of Gu is weak. Why did he make us retreat in the previous stage and then order us to attack together? Is he the team leader?" the short one who called himself Qi Busheng looked at the rich, fat young master without backing down.
"Hmph, if not for his blind command, our insect cloud would have broken their defensive formation in just a few breaths," the tall young man from Never-Parting Peak also said faintly via voice transmission.
"Heh heh, Mi Yuanzhi, there were only four or five breaths of time for the self-detonation over there. Do you think you could have killed all the monks as soon as your Gu-insects broke through?" the young Daoist smiled and transmitted.
"If he hadn't let everyone attack together, how could those monks have immediately chosen to self-destruct? It would have been fine if we had just dragged it out for a few more breaths," the tall young man called Mi Yuanzhi transmitted with contempt.
"You two don't even call him Martial Uncle. I think I'll have to take a trip to the Law-Enforcement Hall of Never-Parting Peak after we get back for the way you're addressing him," Li Yan was surrounded by a few people for no reason, and then was picked on by two disciples from Never-Parting Peak. He was already annoyed. A part of his mind was now focused on this space, always on guard, afraid of missing anything. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes and say coldly.
Qi Busheng and Mi Yuanzhi couldn't help but feel aggrieved upon hearing this. They thought to themselves, 'This unlucky seniority. It's really not easy to find trouble with him. It seems we can only look for some trouble in secret.' But they still transmitted without much confidence, "So what if you go to the Law-Enforcement Hall? Are you right to give orders in place of the team leader?" After speaking, the two of them secretly glanced at Gong Chenying in the distance and couldn't help but feel annoyed. 'Looking for trouble in this team, I'm afraid we'll be the ones to suffer in the end. We shouldn't have agreed to the requests of those few Martial Uncles in the first place.'
"Do you two junior nephews have any other business? If not, move aside," Li Yan was already angry and said unceremoniously. He didn't know who had instigated these two to cause trouble at such a time.
"Two senior brothers, Little Martial Uncle has asked you to leave. Besides, what you two said is wrong. The self-detonation of those monks was ordered by their leading Chan monk. That Chan monk clearly saw that the situation was irreversible. Heh heh," at this time, the curvaceous young woman from Lord Lao Peak transmitted with a charming smile.
Qi Busheng and Mi Yuanzhi knew they had chosen the wrong time to look for trouble. But the fighting here was almost non-stop. Now that there was some free time, if they didn't do something, and those few Martial Uncles found out after they got out, they would definitely make things difficult for them. They couldn't help but look at each other, a look of hatred in their eyes. They glanced at everyone present, curled their lips, and left.
"Heh heh, I am Mei Bucai. These two are my junior brother and sister, Ding Yiwei and Cheng Jingnian. Greetings, Little Martial Uncle," after seeing the two of them leave, the fat young master-looking person saluted Li Yan.
Li Yan didn't know why they had come over. Hearing "Little Martial Uncle" again, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. 'Are all your peaks' Martial Uncles older than me?' Who on earth had started this form of address?
The young Daoist and the curvaceous young woman also bowed in salute.
"May I ask what you all have come here for?" Li Yan asked.
"Heh heh, Little Martial Uncle, we were just discussing the timing of your several reminders in the previous stage, and your final, unfathomable attack. We came here specifically to thank you. If not for that, the outcome of the last stage would have been hard to say. After all, there was also a Foundation Establishment cultivator on the other side," Mei Bucai thought for a moment, organized his words, and said with an honest smile.
"Heh heh, Senior Brother Mei is absolutely right. We two feel the same. To reduce our casualties along the way, Martial Aunt Gong consumed too much spiritual energy. In the end, she could probably only fight that Chan monk to a draw. But if a Foundation Establishment cultivator wants to self-destruct, even at her peak, Martial Aunt Gong would have a hard time overpowering them. It would be extremely difficult to stop," Yu Yiyong also interjected at this time.
How smart was Li Yan? He could hear the half-hidden meaning in their words. The thanks were mostly a pretense. Their real purpose was to ask how he had laid the poison in the end. But this kind of thing was a taboo in the cultivation world. The person being asked could turn hostile and kill them. So the few of them only mentioned their thanks and briefly mentioned his attack, but never mentioned what they wanted to ask. If he took the bait and said a few more words, he would naturally let something slip, and they might be able to find out some of his techniques.
Li Yan knew that these people didn't have much malicious intent. As a poison cultivator, his greatest goal was to use poison to the extreme in his lifetime. Because they couldn't see through his methods, it was extremely difficult to calm the desire in their hearts. Plus, his cultivation was not high, so they had fewer scruples. But how could he say such things? Everyone had their own trump cards. If others knew about them, they would have one less life-saving method.
After hearing them, Li Yan just smiled without speaking. These few were not stupid people and immediately understood Li Yan's meaning. But they didn't have any resentment in their hearts. It was only natural that he didn't say anything. They had come over with a "let's try our luck" attitude in the first place. The second purpose was the same as Yu Yiyong's, to get closer. Although this Little Martial Uncle only had the strength of the eighth level of Qi Condensation, his actions were very mysterious. Even they, at the Perfected Qi Condensation realm, couldn't see the depth of some of his methods. What's more, the team leader was from Little Bamboo Peak.
Mei Bucai seemed to be a very skilled person. After a "heh heh," he changed the subject and started talking about some of the problems in this stage. Next, Li Yan had a good chat with the three men and two women. After a short while, Li Yan suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, I have a question I don't understand. I'd like to ask you all. Is that alright?"